Neo comments on Rationality Quotes May 2014 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: elharo 01 May 2014 09:45AM

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Comment author: Neo 19 May 2014 08:58:54AM 0 points [-]

Selfishness seems to be referred to as primarily a a mindset or attitude. Helping others as an outcome. I think they can co-exist at the same time, for example Adam Smith's invisible hand in capitalism.

Comment author: DanielLC 19 May 2014 06:11:23PM -1 points [-]

I'm not saying that your selfishness can't result in others being helped. I'm saying that if you're trying to figure out how to use your selfishness to help others, then helping others is clearly your goal, which proves you're not selfish. If you're willing to game the system to help others, then you'd be willing to help others without gaming the system.

Comment author: VAuroch 21 May 2014 08:20:01PM *  0 points [-]

If you are selfish (this usually will cash out as "you alieve that selfishness is good") but believe it is virtuous or beneficial to act unselfishly, then you would rightly seek ways to act in ways that feel locally selfish but have unselfish consequences.

Comment author: DanielLC 21 May 2014 09:45:40PM 0 points [-]

You have a left parenthesis but no matching right parenthesis.

Comment author: VAuroch 21 May 2014 11:01:54PM 0 points [-]

I have now fixed this serious issue. (Is this sarcasm? You Decide!)

Comment author: Cyan 22 May 2014 03:02:24AM -1 points [-]

Shouldn't that be

(Is this sarcasm? You Decide!

?

Comment author: VAuroch 22 May 2014 04:06:44PM 2 points [-]

I considered that but decided it was needlessly cruel. And now you did it for me, so I get the best of both worlds.

Comment author: DanielLC 22 May 2014 01:26:27AM -1 points [-]

Now that I can understand your sentence:

If you are selfish, but believe it is virtuous to act unselfishly, then you'll seek ways to act in ways that look unselfish, but have selfish consequences.

Tiffany seems to be an altruist who thinks she's supposed to be selfish, and is trying to justify acting altruistically as somehow being selfish.

Comment author: VAuroch 22 May 2014 04:40:56PM 0 points [-]

You're describing someone who believes it is beneficial to look unselfish but not be unselfish.

If you are selfish, but have reasoned out that helping others is the correct goal to have, you would believe not that it is beneficial to look unselfish, but that it is beneficial to act unselfishly. And if you believe that but do not alieve it, System 2 would look for ways to do unselfish things that System 1 would perceive as selfish, so as to better motivate yourself toward those goals.